Black Bean Salad

Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

I found this recipe on Pinterest of course! It’s perfect for entertaining because it’s festive and you can make it ahead of time — in fact, you should because it gets better and better the longer it sits. I have made it several times, once as a garnish for our mexican food night and Stephen put the salad on his tacos and once for a friends get together. It does involve a fair amount of chopping  — nothing difficult but it does take some time to put together. Enjoy! 

Ingredients

• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 ears fresh cooked corn, kernels cut off the cob or 1 can of corn
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots, from one medium shallot
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 9 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, best quality 
• 1 teaspoon lime zest (be sure to zest limes before juicing them)
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 2 Hass avocados, chopped

Directions

Combine all ingredients except for avocados in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. Right before serving, add avocados and mix gently, being careful not to mash avocados. Garnish with a more chopped cilantro if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Pinto Beans

For many years, I did not make this recipe, boy was I missing out! I prefer pinto beans vs red beans. You can cook these in the crockpot or on the stove (as long as you are there to monitor the water level). I usually make a double batch so that I can freeze some for soup or refried beans later in the week.

INGREDIENTS for overnight soak

• bag of pinto beans
• 2 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp Cumin

INGREDIENTS for cooking

• 2-3 small green onions, chopped
• 1 cup fresh Cilantor, chopped or 2 T dried cilantro
• 4 pieces of uncooked bacon, cut up
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes, more if you prefer it spicier
• 2 T Cumin
• 2 T Mexican Oregano

The night before rinse your beans then in a large bowl or pan add your beans, soaking ingredients above (garlic, and Cumin) and enough water to cover the beans generously in a large pot. Cover and leave on the counter overnight.

Cooking day: Add salt, garlic, onions, pepper, cilantro, red pepper flakes, cumin, Mexican Oregano and bacon. Fill the pot with enough water to generously cover the beans. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 3-4 hours, adding water as needed to keep the beans moist and to ensure that it does not burn.

Crockpot: Rinse the beans, add beans and above cooking ingredients to the crockpot. Fill the crockpot with enough water to generously cover the beans, otherwise, you take a chance of your beans becoming to dry or burning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Helpful tips:

• Soaking cuts the cooking time by as much as 70%, so most soaked beans will pressure cook in as little as 8 to 15 minutes. 
• If you fail to soak the beans first, you can still have beans that day, it will just extend the cooking time.
• Soaking helps further break down those pesky oligosaccharides, the indigestible sugars that cause gas in beans, as well as removing tannins, phytic acid and tryspin inhibitors.